Smart card technology is fast becoming commonplace in our culture and daily lives. A smart card is a card that is embedded with either a microprocessor and a memory chip or only a memory chip with non-programmable logic. The microprocessor card can add, delete, and otherwise manipulate information on the card, while a memory-chip card (for example, pre-paid phone cards) can only undertake a pre-defined operation. Smart cards, unlike magnetic stripe cards, can carry all necessary functions and information on the card. Therefore, they do not require access to remote databases at the time of the transaction.
Smart cards, which are also generally referred to by the industry as “microprocessor cards” or “chip cards”, offer greater memory storage and security of data than traditional magnetic stripe cards. Smart cards may have up to 8 kilobytes of RAM, 346 kilobytes of ROM, 256 kilobytes of programmable ROM, and a 16-bit microprocessor. A smart card uses a serial interface and receives its power from external sources like a card reader. The processor uses a limited instruction set for applications such as cryptography. Smart cards are used for a variety of applications, especially those that have cryptography built in, which require manipulation of large numbers. Thus, smart cards have been the main platform for cards that hold a secure digital identity. The most common smart card applications are:                Credit cards        Electronic cash        Computer security systems        Wireless communication        Loyalty systems (like frequent flyer points)        Banking        Satellite TV        Government identification        
Delivering security—i.e., ensuring access is granted only for authorized usage by authorized cardholders—is the fundamental attribute of smart cards. The effectiveness of smart cards in delivering security is one of the reasons they have been so widely adopted, especially in financial services and mobile phones, why the growth of smart cards has been explosive, and why their usage is expected to expand rapidly for other applications such as personal identity cards, access to pay TV/entertainment, health care services and transportation. Assignee MasterCard makes smart card based authentication solutions (e.g., a program called the Chip Authentication Program (CAP)) available to card issuers. CAP can also be used for Internet banking and other applications requiring positive cardholder authorization. (See, e.g., Rutherford et al., International Patent Publication No. WO/2005/001618, Wankmueller et al., International Patent Publication No. WO/2003/081832, and, Harris et al., International Patent Publication No WO/2001/027887, all of which publications are incorporated by reference herein).
For contactless payment card systems to be economically viable and to gain commercial acceptance, the contactless payment cards must be interoperable at all or most RFID-enabled payment terminals, even when the cards and terminals have technological features that are proprietary to specific card providers/issuers, vendors or terminal manufacturers. Industry-wide interoperability is desirable. Towards this end, industry standards organizations and groups (e.g., International Organization for Standards (ISO) and International Electro Technical Committee (IEC)) have formulated voluntary industry standards for implementation of contactless smart card payment technologies. Three such exemplary standards which have been defined by ISO/TEC are the ISO/IEC 10536, ISO/IEC 14443, and ISO/IEC 15693 standards applicable to Close Coupling, Proximity and Vicinity cards, respectively.
Recently, assignee MasterCard International Incorporated (“MasterCard”) has developed proprietary specifications MasterCard PayPass™ ISO/TEC 14443 Implementation Specification (“PayPass”) for implementation of proximity (contactless) payment card technologies. PayPass is an RF-enabled contactless payment platform, which lets users tap or wave a device in front of a special reader in order to process a transaction. The PayPass implementations are consistent with the ISO/IEC 14443 Standard and provide a convenient example illustrating the principles of the present invention. See, e.g., Smets et al., U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/182,354, 11/182,357, 11/182,358, 11/182,356, 11/182,355, and 11/182,351, all filed Jul. 15, 2005 and all of which are incorporated by reference herein.
In addition to contactless technologies that are standardized under ISO 14443, a number of proprietary contactless interfaces are also used in the industry (e.g., Cubic's GO-Card and Sony's FeliCa card). With existing card technology deployments, interoperability can be an issue. Card readers deployed by vendors in the marketplace should preferably accommodate several different card types. For example, a desirable card reader would support ISO 14443 cards, any additional proprietary card types and also existing “contact” payment cards. A method and system for conducting transactions using a payment card with two different technologies is described in Wankmueller U.S. Pat. No. 6,857,566, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Consideration is now being given to enhancing electronic payment solutions and devices. Attention is being directed to non-standard electronic payment devices with a view to integrating the features of both contact and non-contact payment devices.
Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description.